Rob Martens

Multimedia instructions and cognitive load theory: Effects of modality and cueing

BACKGROUND Recent research on the influence of presentation format on the effectiveness of multimedia instructions has yielded some interesting results. According to cognitive load theory (Sweller, Van Merriënboer, & Paas, 1998) and Mayers theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2001), replacing visual text with spoken text (the modality effect) and adding visual cues relating elements of a picture to the text (the cueing effect) both increase the effectiveness of multimedia instructions in terms of better learning results or less mental effort spent. AIMS The aim of this study was to test the generalisability of the modality and cueing effect in a classroom setting. SAMPLE The participants were 111 second-year students from the Department of Education at the University of Gent in Belgium (age between 19 and 25 years). METHOD The participants studied a web-based multimedia lesson on instructional design for about one hour. Afterwards they completed a retention and a transfer test. During both the instruction and the tests, self-report measures of mental effort were administered. RESULTS Adding visual cues to the pictures resulted in higher retention scores, while replacing visual text with spoken text resulted in lower retention and transfer scores. CONCLUSIONS Only a weak cueing effect and even a reverse modality effect have been found, indicating that both effects do not easily generalise to non-laboratory settings. A possible explanation for the reversed modality effect is that the multimedia instructions in this study were learner-paced, as opposed to the system-paced instructions used in earlier research.

The Impact of Intrinsic Motivation on E-Learning in Authentic Computer Tasks

Students with high intrinsic motivation often outperform students with low intrinsic motivation. However, little is known about the processes that lead to these differences. In education based on simulations or authentic electronic learning environments, this lack of insight is even more clear. The present study investigated what students actually did in an electronic learning environment that was designed as a game-like realistic simulation in which students had to play the role of a junior consultant. The results show that students with high intrinsic motivation did not do more, rather they tended to do different things. Analysis of log files showed that the increased curiosity that students with high intrinsic motivation have, resulted in proportionally more explorative study behaviour. However, the learning outcomes of students with high intrinsic motivation were not better.

The Effect of Functional Roles on Group Efficiency : Using Multilevel Modeling and Content Analysis to Investigate Computer-Supported Collaboration in Small Groups

The usefulness of roles to support small group performance can often be read; however, their effect is rarely empirically assessed. This article reports the effects of functional roles on group performance, efficiency, and collaboration during computer-supported collaborative learning. A comparison of 33 questionnaire observations, distributed over 10 groups in two research conditions (role and nonrole) revealed no main effect for performance (grade). A latent variable was interpreted as perceived group efficiency (PGE). Multilevel modeling yielded a positive, marginal effect for PGE. Groups in the role condition appear to be more aware of their efficiency as compared to groups in the nonrole condition, regardless of whether they performed well or poorly. Content analysis reveals more task-content focused statements in the role condition; however, this was not as we hypothesized (i.e., the premise that roles decrease coordination). In fact, roles appear to stimulate coordination that simultaneously increases the amount of task-content focused statements.

The Boundary Approach of Competence: A Constructivist Aid for Understanding and Using the Concept of Competence

Although competence is an important concept in human resource development and education, there is no theoretical framework for competence. This article focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. It proposes the boundary approach ofcompetence, an aid to support human resource managers and educationalists in thinking about the concept of competence and in defining it properly. Here, the concept of competence is being explored by focusing on its dimensions and by identifying differences with related terms. The boundary approach of competence heavily depends on a constructivist point ofview. This holds that the quest for one absolute meaning of competence is being abandoned and that instead competence definitions are being valued against their degree of viability. This article proposes three variables for enhancing viability: people, goal and context.

New Learning Design in Distance Education: The impact on student perception and motivation

Many forms of e‐learning (such as online courses with authentic tasks and computer‐supported collaborative learning) have become important in distance education. Very often, such e‐learning courses or tasks are set up following constructivist design principles. Often, this leads to learning environments with authentic problems in ill‐structured tasks that are supposed to motivate students. However, constructivist design principles are difficult to implement because developers must be able to predict how students perceive the tasks and whether the tasks motivate the students. The research in this article queries some of the assumed effects. It presents a study that provides increased insight into the actual perception of electronic authentic learning tasks. The main questions are how students learn in such e‐learning environments with “virtual” reality and authentic problems and how they perceive them. To answer these questions, in two e‐learning programs developed at the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) designers’ expectations were contrasted with student perceptions. The results show a gap between the two, for students experience much less authenticity than developers assume.

The surplus value of an authentic learning environment

This article presents a study that provides insight in the effects of an authentic electronic learning environment on student performance and experiences. It is expected that learning in an authentic learning environment results in higher performance and improves intrinsic motivation of students. The results of this study showed, contrary to what was expected, that student who worked in an authentic environment did not perform better than students who worked in a less authentic environment. Moreover, the reported experiences with the learning environments did not differ between both groups.

Interactive learning environments to support independent learning: the impact of discernability of embedded support devices

In this article the effectivity of prototypes of interactive learning environments (ILE) is investigated. These computer-based environments are used for independent learning. In the learning materials, represented in the prototypes, a clear distinction is made between the basic content and embedded support devices (ESDs) that are expected to support learning. The prototypes differ in relation to the extent they support interactivity in manipulating the ESDs and the degree of discernability of the ESDs. In a large empirical research set-up ILE are compared with learning environments that are based on printed learning materials and a control situation with face-to-face lectures. The results indicate the effectivity of the ILE, when taking into account the significant impact of individual differences between students on study outcome. The interaction results show that discernability of ESDs is favourable for some students. For other students, however, discernability affects the learning outcome in a negative way.

The problem arena of researching computer supported collaborative learning: Introduction to the special section

In this introduction to the special section, research in relation to asynchronous discussions in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments is analysed from a methodological perspective. The discussion centres on three quality issues that are considered as critical in recent content analysis approaches: (1) the accuracy of the research methodology applied to gather data in CSCL-settings, (2) the low reliability of the research instruments and procedures, and (3) questions about the validity of the research instruments. Finally, the four contributions in the special are positioned in relation to these three critical topics.

Computer-Based Tools for Instructional Design: An Introduction to the Special Issue.

Modern instructional theories are characterized by their focus on rich, multidisciplinary and often collaborative learning tasks that are somehow representative for authentic, real life tasks. This new view on learning heavily increases the complexity of the design process and the resulting instructional systems. It is argued that computer-based instructional design (ID) tools may help to deal with this growing complexity. A framework to distinguish different kinds of ID tools is presented. This framework is then used to introduce the contributions to this special issue.

Functions, use and effects of embedded support devices in printed distance learning materials

In distance education, the design and elaboration of the learning materials are of prime importance. Despite the potential of new information technologies, printed learning materials are still the dominant delivery format. To support the learning process, the printed materials are enriched with “embedded support devices” (ESD), such as schemes, illustrations, examples, pre- and post-questions, tasks, margin texts, etc. Developers of learning materials assign functions and effects to these ESD. The validity of these assumptions has hardly been empirically researched in a distance education setting. In this article three studies are presented that focus on this issue. In the studies presented, three research methods are used to cope with methodological and theoretical problems as observed in earlier research in relation to ESD. It is concluded that ESD are used and appreciated by students and lead to better study results. The impact of individual characteristics of students was less clear.